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The human brain is the inner universe through which all external events are perceived. That fact alone should ensure that neuroscience will eventually receive top priority in the list of human endeavors. The brain represents the pinnacle of sophistication in the realm of living systems. Yet it is an imperfect organ, whose failures in disease processes lead to the occupation of more than half of all hospital beds and whose variable performance in the healthy state contributes in undetermined degree to the world's social problems. Every significant advance in or understanding of the brain has yielded enormous practical dividends. There is every reason to believe the future holds even greater promise. In the preface to our first edition, we drew attention to the establishment of graduate programs in dozens of universities around the world and the emergence of numerous international journals devoted to interdisciplinary work on the brain. The discoveries that have flowed from this activity have required extensive updating of the details of this book, which is a testimony to the fruitfulness of neuroscience research. Yet the basics remain the same. It is more important than ever that the neuroscientist be presented with the fundamental subdisciplines that together make up the total of brain research in an integrated manner.
List of contents
I Architecture and Operation of the Nervous System.- 1 The Fine Structure of the Mammalian Brain.- 2 Signaling in the Nervous System.- 3 Chemical Synaptic Transmission at Peripheral Synapses.- 4 Synaptic Transmission in the Central Nervous System.- II Specific Neuronal Participants and Their Physiological Actions.- 5 Principles of Synaptic Biochemistry.- 6 Putative Excitatory Neurons: Glutamate and Aspartate.- 7 Inhibitory Amino Acid Neurotransmitters.- 8 Cholinergic Neurons.- 9 Catecholamine Neurons.- 10 Serotonin and Other Brain Indoles.- 11 Other Heterocyclic Putative Neurotransmitters: Histamine and Purines.- 12 The Prominent Peptides.- III The Integrative Aspects of Brain Function.- 13 The Building of the Brain and Its Adaptive Capacity.- 14 Control of Movement by the Brain.- 15 Basic Behavioral Patterns.- 16 Neuronal Mechanisms Involved in Learning and Memory.- 17 Perception, Speech, and Consciousness.- Epilogue.- References.
About the author
John C. Eccles, geb. 1903 in Melbourne, gest. 1997 in Locarno. Medizinstudium in Melbourne. Lehrtätigkeit in Oxford, dann Institutsdirektor in Sidney. Professuren in Otago/Neuseeland, Canberra/Australien und Buffalo/USA. 1963 Nobelpreis für gehirnphysiologische Forschungen. Zahlreiche Veröffentlichungen.
